I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2926 

To amend title 46, United States Code, to adjust certain standards for 

shipping safety, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 22, 2019 

Mr. SEAN PATRICK MALONEY of New York introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To amend title 46, United States Code, to adjust certain 

standards for shipping safety, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Navigation Safety Act 

5 of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ELECTRONIC CHARTS; EQUIVALENCY. 

7 (a) REQUIREMENTS.—Section 3105(a)(1) of title 46, 

8 United States Code, is amended to read as follows: 

9 ‘‘(1) ELECTRONIC CHARTS IN LIEU OF MARINE

10 CHARTS, CHARTS, AND MAPS.—Subject to paragraph 


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1 (2), the following vessels, while operating on the 

2 navigable waters of the United States, shall be 

3 equipped with and operate electronic navigational 

4 charts conforming to a standard acceptable to the 

5 Secretary in lieu of any marine charts, charts, and 

6 maps required by titles 33 and 46, Code of Federal 

7 Regulations, as in effect on the date of the enact8 ment of this paragraph: 

9 ‘‘(A) A self-propelled commercial vessel of 

10 at least 65 feet in overall length. 

11 ‘‘(B) A vessel carrying more than a num12 ber of passengers for hire determined by the 

13 Secretary. 

14 ‘‘(C) A towing vessel of more than 26 feet 

15 in overall length and 600 horsepower. 

16 ‘‘(D) Any other vessel for which the Sec17 retary decides that electronic charts are nec18 essary for the safe navigation of the vessel.’’. 

19 (b) EXEMPTIONS AND WAIVERS.—Section 

20 3105(a)(2) of title 46, United States Code, is amended 

21 by— 

22 (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘operates; 

23 and’’ and inserting ‘‘operates;’’; 

24 (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘those 

25 waters.’’ and inserting ‘‘those waters; and’’; and 


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1 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

2 ‘‘(C) permit vessels that operate solely 

3 landward of the baseline from which the terri4 torial sea of the United States is measured to 

5 utilize software-based, platform-independent 

6 electronic chart systems that the Secretary de7 termines are capable of displaying electronic 

8 navigational charts with necessary scale and de9 tail to ensure safe navigation for the intended 

10 voyage.’’. 

11 SEC. 3. OFFSHORE NAVIGATION. 

12 (a) PORT ACCESS ROUTES.—Section 70003(e) of 

13 title 46, United States Code, is amended— 

14 (1) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘continues; 

15 and’’ and inserting ‘‘continues;’’; 

16 (2) in paragraph (4), by striking the period at 

17 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

18 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

19 ‘‘(5) shall, unless otherwise authorized by the 

20 Secretary, and notwithstanding any other provision 

21 of this chapter, require— 

22 ‘‘(A) a 2-nautical-mile buffer between the 

23 parallel outer or seaward boundary of a traffic 

24 lane and any offshore structure affixed to the 


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1 submerged land of the Outer Continental Shelf; 

2 and 

3 ‘‘(B) a 5-nautical-mile buffer between the 

4 entry or exit of any traffic separation scheme 

5 and any offshore structure.’’. 

6 (b) NAVIGATION; CONFLICT MITIGATION.—Not later 

7 than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, 

8 the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard 

9 is operating shall implement the recommendations of the 

10 Atlantic Coast Port Access Route Study, docket number 

11 USCG–2011–0351, dated February 24, 2016, including 

12 any recommendations in the appendices thereto. 

13 (c) FAIRWAYS.—Not later than July 1, 2021, the 

14 Commandant of the Coast Guard shall conduct a review 

15 of navigation on the East Coast of the United States and 

16 submit recommendations for new fairways on such coast 

17 to facilitate commerce to the Committee on Transpor18 tation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives 

19 and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transpor20 tation of the Senate. 

21 SEC. 4. SAFETY OF SPECIAL ACTIVITIES. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title 46, United States Code, is 

23 amended by inserting after section 70005 the following: 


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1 ‘‘§ 70006. Safety of special activities 

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may establish a 

3 safety zone to address special activities in the exclusive 

4 economic zone. 

5 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

6 ‘‘(1) The term ‘safety zone’ has the meaning 

7 provided in section 165.20 of title 33, Code of Fed8 eral Regulations. 

9 ‘‘(2) The term ‘special activities’ includes— 

10 ‘‘(A) space activities, including launch and 

11 reentry, as those terms are defined in section 

12 50902 of title 51, carried out by United States 

13 citizens; and 

14 ‘‘(B) offshore energy development activi15 ties, as described in section 8(p)(1)(C) of the 

16 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 

17 1337(p)(1)(C)), on or near a fixed platform. 

18 ‘‘(3) The term ‘United States citizen’ has the 

19 same meaning as the term ‘eligible owners’ in sec20 tion 12103. 

21 ‘‘(4) The term ‘fixed platform’ means an artifi22 cial island, installation, or structure permanently at23 tached to the sea-bed for the purpose of exploration 

24 or exploitation of resources or for other economic 

25 purposes.’’. 


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1 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The analysis for chap2 ter 700 of title 46, United States Code, is amended by 

3 inserting after the item relating to section 70005 the fol4 lowing: 

‘‘70006. Safety of special activities.’’. 

5 (c) REGULATIONS.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

7 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

8 of the department in which the Coast Guard is oper9 ating shall establish regulations to implement this 

10 section. 

11 (2) ALIGNMENT WITH OTHER REGULATIONS.— 

12 Such regulations shall align with subchapter C of 

13 chapter III of title 14, Code of Federal Regulations. 

14 SEC. 5. TOWING VESSELS; OPERATION OUTSIDE THE 

15 BOUNDARY LINE. 

16 (a) INTERIM EXEMPTION.—A towing vessel to which 

17 this section applies is exempt from any additional require18 ments of subtitle II of title 46, United States Code, and 

19 chapter I of title 33 and chapter I of title 46, Code of 

20 Federal Regulations that would result solely from such 

21 vessel operating outside the Boundary Line (as such term 

22 is defined in section 103 of title 46, United States Code) 

23 if such vessel— 


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1 (1) is listed as a response vessel on a vessel re2 sponse plan and is operating outside the Boundary 

3 Line solely to perform duties of a response vessel; or 

4 (2) is operating outside the Boundary Line 

5 solely to perform operations necessary to escort a 

6 vessel with limited maneuverability. 

7 (b) APPLICABILITY.—This section applies to a towing 

8 vessel— 

9 (1) that is subject to inspection under chapter 

10 33 of title 46, United States Code, and subchapter 

11 M of title 46, Code of Federal Regulations; 

12 (2) with only ‘‘Lakes, Bays, and Sounds’’ or 

13 ‘‘Rivers’’ routes recorded on such vessel’s certificate 

14 of documentation under section 176.110 of title 46, 

15 Code of Federal Regulations; and 

16 (3)(A) that, with respect to a vessel that is de17 scribed in subsection (a)(1), is listed on a vessel re18 sponse plan under part 155 of title 33, Code of Fed19 eral Regulations, on the date of the enactment of 

20 this Act; or 

21 (B) that, with respect to a vessel described in 

22 subsection (a)(2), is regularly engages in harbor as23 sist operations, including the docking, undocking, 

24 mooring, unmooring, and escorting of vessels with 

25 limited maneuverability. 


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1 (c) LIMITATIONS.—A vessel exempted under sub2 section (a) is subject to the following operating limitations: 

3 (1) RESPONSE VESSELS.—The voyage of a ves4 sel exempted under subsection (a)(1) shall— 

5 (A) be less than 12 hours in total duration; 

6 and 

7 (B) originate and end in the inspection 

8 zone of a single Officer In-Charge, Marine In9 spection, as defined in section 3305(d)(4) of 

10 title 46, United States Code. 

11 (2) ESCORT VESSELS.—The voyage of a vessel 

12 exempted under subsection (a)(2) shall— 

13 (A) be less than 12 hours in total duration; 

14 (B) originate and end in the inspection 

15 zone of a single Officer In-Charge, Marine In16 spection, as such term is defined in section 

17 3305(d)(4) of title 46, United States Code; and 

18 (C) occurs no further than 10 nautical 

19 miles from the Boundary Line. 

20 (d) TERMINATION.—The interim exemption provided 

21 under subsection (a) shall terminate on July 22, 2023. 

22 (e) RESTRICTION.—The Officer In-Charge, Marine 

23 Inspection, as defined in section 3305(d)(4) of title 46, 

24 United States Code, for an inspection zone may restrict 


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1 operations under the exemptions provided under sub2 section (a) for safety purposes. 

3 (f) BRIEFING.—Not later than July 22, 2022, the 

4 Commandant of the Coast Guard shall brief the Com5 mittee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House 

6 of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, 

7 Science, and Transportation of the Senate regarding the 

8 following: 

9 (1) The impacts of the interim exemptions pro10 vided under this section. 

11 (2) Any safety concerns regarding the expira12 tion of such interim exemptions. 

13 (3) Whether such interim exemptions should be 

14 extended or made permanent in the interests of safe15 ty. 

Æ 


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